Ironman Coeur d'Alene - TriathlonFull Ironman

The swim start was what I expected with the bumping and hitting however I wasn't ready to have it happen the entire swim.Rounding buoys was like salmon spawning. Why did everyone have to stop to make a left turn?

Swim outside a bit more. The closer in the more punishment. Try to find the right feet to follow.

Wetsuit strippers are fantastic!

Nothing.

The bike felt great at the beginning. I stayed within myself and was so tempted to "eat some paste" but didn't. Once I left the golf course in Hayden my lower back started hurting which came as a suprise.I stayed in the saddle the entire first loop just as I planned and felt pretty good until heading back into town. The headwind was holding my speed down and my back was getting pretty sore. On the second loop I stopped at special needs to stretch my back and change out my nutrition bottles. It was great having some inspirational cards from my wife and family.The second loop proved to be a challenge. My back was aching and I had to stop at a few aid stations to stretch. The headwind on the final way back in was brutal for me.

My overall time shows a 15 mph average which tells me based on my first lap time that I went out too fast.Slow down.I am not sure what was happening with my back.

I felt like this was longer than what the time shows.

MORE SUNSCREEN!

I started off with the plan of running from aid station to aid station but went to my back-up plan of 3/1 intervals. This continued until about mile 9 when I started walking for a few minutes with a few minutes of running.As I was coming back into town to start the second loop I started bonking. I couldn't figure out how much time I had left to finish and by this time I was walking more than I was running. When I started heading back out I was able to clear my head and get back into some very slow interval work.At every aid staion I was eating bananas and drinking water. I tried cola a couple of times and some broth too but both were nasty to me.

Keep running. More sunscreen.My strength is running and with my PF my run training was low which I know slowed me on my run.

Low run training and not enough sunsreen.


With this being my first Ironman I did my best to stay within myself for the day. The support on this course was beyond what I had imagined and made for a fantastic day! Will there be another Ironman? HELL YES!